


victory (don’t you cry any harder)

by sonnyside



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, Getting Together, One Shot, THAT HUG, World Cup, hurt comfort, poetic prose, soft, this is twitter’s fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 18:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21498718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonnyside/pseuds/sonnyside
Summary: I’m not sure what this is but after the collective twitter breakdown tonight I had to put it out there. Sorry if it’s bad.
Relationships: Kelley O'Hara/Emily Sonnett
Comments: 3
Kudos: 89





	victory (don’t you cry any harder)

** I.  **

You feel the way she’s crying on your shoulder, and it’s not just from happiness, either. 

The crowd around you is enormous and cameras are everywhere; she’s wrapped you both in the American flag and the tears of relief mixed with something more complicated streaming down her face almost get you going too. You want to make sure she’s ok. You want to cry with her if she’s not.

But you’ve got celebrations to get to, teammates and family and fans to not disappoint, so you hold her tighter. You’ll ask her about it later. 

II. 

She falls asleep drunk in your hotel bed with a dopey smile on her face, before you really get a chance to chat about anything. 

She’s managed to take her bra off while leaving her game jersey on, and her medal is still around her neck. 

Once you’re in sleep shorts and an oversized hoodie you curl up next to her, breathing her sweat in and stroking the ribbon of the medal with your fingers so you don’t do something stupid like caress her skin. 

You’ll talk about all of this later. For now you soak her in. 

**III**. 

“My ankle hurts. Bad” 

She whispers as you both slowly wake to the soft morning sunlight. 

“What if this is my last World Cup?” 

She buries her head into your neck and you think she’s crying again. You stroke the baby hairs at the base of her scalp and you say over and over, 

“You can’t think like that, Kels, you can’t think like that.” 

You want to tell her she needs to see Dawn, but she’s already under concussion protocol and you doubt she wants to know right now if she’s right. If this is the end of it all. 

You can’t imagine this journey without Kelley on it. You can’t imagine your life without Kelley at all. You don’t know why that scares you so much. 

**IV**. 

“Is that why you were crying, on the field?” 

Mal is asleep, which means is just you and Kelley awake on the private plane. She kicks at your shin idly with her good foot, causing you to utter a small, silly “hey!” 

But then you wait. After awhile, she replies, uncertain: 

“Yes, and no. I don’t know peach. I know I’ll probably heal. I can be careful. I can get better, be better, even with my ankle as a setback.” 

You don’t know when you grabbed her hand but you’re rubbing your thumb over the back of it and Kelley is watching, hypnotized by the motion. She seems really nervous. 

“I was crying because I was happy. But also, sad... it’s stupid, I just - “ 

She lowers her voice and sounds so unsure of herself now, 

“I don’t want to mess any of this up. But it meant so much to share this victory with you. And I mean with you specifically. I didn’t wanna let go like that with anyone else but you.” 

Oh. Ohhh. A part of you always knew, or hoped that this is where the two of you were headed, but- 

You blush. And consciously remember to keep holding her hand because if you pull away now she’ll think you’re running. And you’re not. Never. With your free hand you nudge her cheek gently to get her to look up at you. 

Your eye contact is more electric than it’s ever been. But it’s the same, too. It’s always been this way with the two of you. 

But can it be real? You want everything all at once, but you have to start somewhere. So you start simple.

“I feel the same. You’re stuck with me. Always.”

What you want to say is _I love you_.

She kisses your nose and holds her lips there for a moment too long. You both smile, and start to giggle. 

**V**. 

She wakes you up with breakfast, and coffee and kisses, and you still haven’t labeled any of this. But your first place medals have been sharing space in the same closet; your treasured FIFA2019 Champion jerseys are hanging side by side. 

It’s not like you’ve moved in together, officially. But after the victory parade she followed you to Portland, since with her injury she’s in no shape just yet to play for her own club. 

She stays with you, in your bed. And she’s in the stands for every game. (Badly) disguised with sunglasses and a ponytail, so you know fans will begin to speculate. 

You can still feel the way she clung to you like the world was ending that day, but at the same time like it was beginning— so raw and confusing and purely Kelley -- andit’s imprinted on your heart forever. Because now you know why she was crying. 

She doesn’t wanna let you go, ever.

And that’s just fine with you;

it’s not as if you’d let her. 


End file.
